16 Comments

Regarding the devil always stealing the show, that often seems to be the case with villains in general. Everybody remembers Darth Vader, Frollo, Maleficent, etc. I recently finished the audiobook "The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu", the first in a pulp series NAMED after the villain. I suspect in addition to the points about the devil that you mentioned, there is also the attraction to the forbidden that villains represent. They get to ham it up, stick it to those asking for it, take what they want, and sometimes even be in charge for a while before being deposed. The comic Order of the Stick has a villain who is very aware of how the story needs for him to be defeated. But he counts his blessings, being content to live it up until he's deposed. He's not even worried about his reputation or legacy: "Audiences always think the villain is cooler than the hero is, anyway."

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All great points. And OotS is a great example of compelling villains. Not just Tarquin, but Xykon as well.

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> What is vastly under-defined is a strong cultural conservative vision for the future, that is also actually futuristic (not retrograde).

This is interesting to me for two reasons. One is, I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "cultural conservative" and "not retrograde" in this case, and I would be interested to hear what you mean.

The other is that arguably my own writing is kind of "culturally conservative" for some definition of that term, and futuristic. I'm interested in the topic of the future of culture in general.

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By not retrograde I mean not looking back to some period that was better. Pining for the 50's to take an oversimplified example.

And certainly lots of people are interested in the future of culture. Robin Hanson has been fixated on it for the last several months, and there's even been something of a conservative bent, though you kind of have to read between the lines.

When speaking of the book and problem with techno-optimism more generally, they spend far too much time thinking of the technology required to get to Mars, and far too little time thinking of crafting culture in such a way the men want to get to Mars. To do other hard and dangerous things.

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I have read at least one Robin Hanson article on cultural drift. Also I found this Interintellect video of him talking about it with Katherine Dee, which I haven't watched yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu5sv2gcrtE

I can remember a few Holden Karnofsky posts about the future of culture. What are some other people interested in the topic?

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I was shocked when you reported that the audio was an AI voice clone. As a matter of fact it was so convincing that I'm doubting that you're telling me the truth that it was a voice clone! I listen to you on the podcast feed and sometimes with out close attention but still I thought I was really good at noticing AI voice. You definitely can just go ahead and continue to use the voice clone if it saves you time. I have listened to hundreds of hours of your voice so I would have thought I could have instantly detected an AI but I did not.

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It was indeed all AI. Good to hear that it fooled you, it's surprisingly good.

Thanks for the feedback!

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Sub stack makes it difficult to have a coherent conversation in the comments I find. Doesn't thread the comments properly. Better to do it on Twitter either in the direct messages or in the public thread. I have direct message you and I have sent a public message on your Twitter.

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I'm going to look for you on Twitter X. I have a feeling you are not on there for some reason.

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Sure enough you are not there which is weird because it is the last Bastion of free speech. At least for now. X now has a capacity to write articles if you sign up for premium. I believe they have audio capacity as well maybe just in the form of video.

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I was considering attempting to "teach" you something important there, because I like you and I appreciate your work and I don't think you have a handle on this one particular topic. I was considering attempting it on Twitter X because that is a particularly good format but I will go for it here. I'm attempting to do this in an accelerated manner for your benefit. If I do it here maybe some of your Associates will also receive the benefit as well.

I would like to send you one (1) Satoshi.

I'm pretty sure no one has ever sent you one (1) Sat before and therefore you would learn a lot in a very brief period of time if I sent you one. Are you interested in the lesson?

The reason the amount, 1, interesting is because... well that would be part of the lesson if you don't already know the answer.

Anyway if you're interested I will tell you what the first thing to do is. You can let me know here apparently sub stack is notifying me properly when something comes up here.

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Okay great.

First download this wallet onto a smart phone. Could be an older phone. It is supported by most operating systems but there maybe an exception.

https://simply.cash/

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I am on Twitter @jeremiah820 but I'm not particularly good at twitter. You're welcome to send me 1 Satoshi.

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Sent you a screenshot on Xtwitter as not able here

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